Former Kursk Region Governor Alexei Smirnov was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony.

The court found him guilty of accepting bribes during the construction of defensive fortifications on the border with Ukraine. According to Smirnov himself, the amount in question was 30 million rubles. The total damage from the construction of defensive fortifications exceeds billion rubles. The prosecution requested 15 years in a maximum security penal colony for Alexei Smirnov. The court also sentenced him to a fine of 400 million rubles and stripped him of the honorary title of "Honored Worker of Housing and Public Utilities of the Russian Federation."